Who's Your Greatest Influence?

Discussion in 'Discussion of Published Works' started by Liuqahs15, May 5, 2010.

  1. Coda

    Coda New Member

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    Loads but the thing that made me think, yeah I can write was the story of Jaqueline Susann. In the film she is played by Bette Midler and I just thought wow, thats brilliant! Anyone an do anything. I love Valley of the dolls too.

    I am really enjoying Lady Chatterlys lover at the min too. Oooo Sarah Waters also.

    For music CocoRosie are so random they have been inspiring me to do poetry.
    :D
     
  2. Diablo Robotico

    Diablo Robotico New Member

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    In fiction, it would be Stephen King, I guess, considering I've read so much by him and there are a few quotes by him that I think about when writing. Maybe Tolkien and J.K. Rowling more recently.

    For poetry, I really have no idea. Maybe a little Shel Silverstein sometimes, and various song lyrics. Mostly, though, I just write what feels right, but I don't know where it comes from.
     
  3. solarstarrkatt

    solarstarrkatt New Member

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    Authors: JK Rowling, Barry Lyga, and Suzanne Collins.
    Although I feel ideas surging when I watch my brother play the newer Legends of Zelda. No idea why.
    Poetry: The kids at my school.
     
  4. Gigi_GNR

    Gigi_GNR Guys, come on. WAFFLE-O. Contributor

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    *high-five!* Me too, definitely. :D
     
  5. raian

    raian New Member

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    Probably Anne Rice first, then the likes of Stephen King, Robert McCammon, Dean Koontz. I grew up with these guys and just love the way they spin a tale ;)
     
  6. jacklondonsghost

    jacklondonsghost New Member

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    Suzanne Collins? As in, I'm NOT the only person who thoroughly enjoyed her Underland Chronicles? That is fantastic haha.

    Biggest influences for me are Jack London (dur), S.E. Hinton, and basically any good books I come across. Books as entities mean more to me than authors. However I also find that if I lose focus on my writing, reading works I loved as a kid such as Time Stops for No Mouse by Michael Hoeye, the Redwall series by Jacques, and everything Roald Dahl ever wrote, usually helps to remind me why I love books so much.
     
  7. Unit7

    Unit7 Contributor Contributor

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    I suppose I take a bit of everything from the authors I wrote. Somethings I want to adapt into my own stories. Like how Stephen King will put small nods towards other stories he has written. Creating the idea that much of this happens within the same Universe.

    I have to say though that R.A. Salvatore has helped influence a few of my characters. Namely the continueing overuse of the dual swords. I even tried to recreate the relationship between Drizzt and Zak. While I failed, I created two characters with a bond I would definitely enjoy reading. I don't know what everyones opinions on his writing, but I do know that I have thoroughly enjoyed his books and characters. :)

    I also have recieved inspiration from R.L. Stine. While I know his writing is... well bad. I have enjoyed reading Goosebumps over the years and wish to read more of them. But what inspires me is that how fun a book can really be. They don't need to be something overly serious.


    Also JK Rowling. She helped me find my love of vast worlds found in books. How rich and fun they can be and how they can contain dark secrets. I guess I am not explaining myself correctly. But I just loved the Potterverse and how dynamic it was and full of amazing stuff.

    Not exactly the best authors in the world. But each of them are ones I love to read. :)
     
  8. jeanne

    jeanne New Member

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    Annette Curtis Klause is my first inspiration to write urban fantasy. Then, love of this style strengthen by John Ajvide Lindqvist.
     
  9. Roshina.Lukan

    Roshina.Lukan New Member

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    Darren Shan. I really enjoy his description and choice of words. I have only been writing for a few years but his writing style is always in the back of mind. When I was a lot younger, R.L Stine was basically my first favorite author. Then it was Darren Shan. Now I'm starting to get into Dean Koontz. Over time I hope to better my vocabulary and learn a few things by reading others work.
     
  10. Smelnick

    Smelnick New Member

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    As far as lyrics go, I have several bands lyrics that influence me. Some of my darker stuff is influenced by Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath and a band called Sonata Arctica. My lighter stuff is usually influenced by the likes of Colin Hay, Jack Johnson, and some country artists as well.

    My short stories are mostly influenced by my two favourite authors, Stephen King and Dean Koontz. I absolutely love King's character development and how detailed he gets with them. I always know exactly what the character I'm reading about is like. The little sayings and what not. I love the passion that Dean Koontz puts into his characters. Always suspenseful, and the characters always REALLY want to complete whatever they are doing. Wether it be protecting someone, or getting somewhere, defeating something. Strong willed, yet realistic. Normal people handling bizarre situations.
     
  11. Ophiucha

    Ophiucha New Member

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    That's a tricky one; I doubt I only have one. I would say China Miéville is most influential on my stories, but Thomas Hardy is the most influential on my writing. Other powerful influences include E.R. Eddison, H.P. Lovecraft, William Hope Hodgson, Edmund Spenser, and Jorge Luis Borges. There are probably seven hundred others, but those are the names that really stand out.
     
  12. [audra|june]

    [audra|june] New Member

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    Lyrics: Miley Cyrus [she writes amazing stuff. Not the Hannah stuff she doesn't write, her own songs are the amazing ones]
    Books: Janet Evanovich, Meg Cabot, Diana Palmer, and Nora Roberts
     
  13. Gigi_GNR

    Gigi_GNR Guys, come on. WAFFLE-O. Contributor

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    The Beatles are my #1 influence for everything. Not just music, although they're my #1 music influence too. :)
     
  14. monarchwing

    monarchwing New Member

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    Thank you, jacklondonsghost, for mentioning S.E. Hinton. My friends teased me because I cried in 8th grade English class at the end of The Outsiders. Oh, the memories of junior high...:)

    I haven't written that much, so I don't think I really have a style yet. But I remember reading books by S.E. Hinton and Judy Blume and thinking it might be fun to be a writer. It's hard to believe that was 30 years ago, and I'm just getting started now.
     
  15. That Secret Ninja

    That Secret Ninja New Member

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    At this moment? Frank Herbert.

    I'm finishing up the Dune Chronicles and so far I am really impressed with Herbert's writings. His narrative structure is perfect for what he writes.

    He doesn't directly influence my storylines, but his writing style and prose have definitely left their impression on my writing.
     
  16. Dante Dases

    Dante Dases Contributor Contributor

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    Ditto on Frank Herbert, especially the first 3 Dune novels. Thematically interesting and inspiring (always thought his style was a little on the clunky side, though). Stylistically, influenced by Iain M. Banks, Arthur C. Clarke, John Wyndham and a couple of others for my SF writings. When writing fantasy, George R.R. Martin (pleased to see some love for him here) and Robin Hobb, because they don't write Tolkien ripoffs (and I've strangely never really likes Tolkien). I suppose The Dark Tower's early instalments are another influence as well, and King qualifies as an influence even though I've never really read more than those and The Stand.

    Currently trying my hand at a script for a graphic novel, so the likes of Gaiman, Moore, Miller, etc, are all influences.
     
  17. JTheGreat

    JTheGreat New Member

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    I'm influenced by everything. Weirdly enough, most of my writing is influenced by films, such as Push and L: Change the World. As for authors, my biggest influence would have to be Kate DiCamillo. Her lightheartedness was heartwarming all through my childhood. Plus, it was the first book at least an inch thick that I read in under half a week.
     
  18. Switch

    Switch Member

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    I think I'm influenced by ever book I've ever read. When writing, I try to incorporate a mix of every writing style I've ever seen, and this becomes my own style. Of course, the stories that most of my works are similar to are things like Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, but my works can be completely un-inspired by other literature sometimes, and possibly inspired by things like walking the dog or a certain song.
     
  19. hownow-n

    hownow-n New Member

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    I'm gonna be a complete nerd and say Kazuya Minekura who "writes"/draws manga, which are those Japanese comic books that read backwards. As lame as it sounds, her stories taught me a lot about characterization and showing instead of telling :redface:

    Wishbone books got me through first grade, then came J.K. Rowling, and far off in the future Terry Pratchett and Joseph Heller and tons of other writers... But mostly Kazuya Minekura :p
     
  20. aquablue

    aquablue New Member

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    Hemingway and Capote.

    I like Marilynne Robinson as well. :)
     
  21. NosceTeIpsum

    NosceTeIpsum New Member

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    Stephen King, H.P. Lovecraft, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Anne Rice, and Bernard Cornwell are huge influences for me. I remember reading an article where Stephen King was criticizing Stephenie Meyer's writing and I thought, "I would be inconsolable for weeks if Stephen King criticized my work!"
     
  22. justAphil

    justAphil New Member

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    Dan Brown, Henning Mankell and Donna Leon here. Their books are by far my favourite (some in between books from authors like christopher paolini are exceptions) and influenced my way of showing characters emotions and their actions. Though I still have my own way of letting them think as I partly compare them to myself or to others I know very well.
     
  23. Solipsism

    Solipsism New Member

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    Frank Herbert is a good choice. Perhaps Jack London.
    Although Nietzsche did leave perhaps the greatest marks of influence on me
     
  24. Aconite

    Aconite New Member

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    This is not an exhaustive list or my absolute favorites, merely a representative listing of my interests off the top of my head, in different genres: Joseph Conrad, Fritz Leiber, Rafael Sabatini, Ursula K. LeGuin, Samuel R. Delany, Andrew Marvell, Yeats, Philip Larkin, Camus, Shelby Foote, Carl Sagan, Borges, Arturo Pérez-Reverte, Brecht, Pinter, Ionesco, Wilder, and Strindberg.

    With fictional classics: I like crisp, clear writing, and tend to eschew overwritten, florid, or maudlin. The tighter and leaner the writing, the better. I think Conrad was actually better at this than Hemingway.

    With speculative fiction: I like weird, genre-bending ideas, again, with crisp and clear writing.

    With poetry: I like formalists, but people who spin the formalist label a bit. Larkin hated people. Marvell wrote science fiction in the form of love poetry. Yeats took formalist structures and did whatever the heck he wanted with them. All good stuff.

    With drama: I like absurdism and surrealism, works that read like fever dreams and works that reveal things about people that are unexpected.
     
  25. thirdwind

    thirdwind Member Contest Administrator Reviewer Contributor

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    ^ Nice, I like a lot of the writers you mentioned, especially Camus, Hemingway, and Yeats.
     

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